Gents, been thinking about this for a while…..I’ve been building for about a year now. Most of my rods are for myself, my kids, relatives or for fund raising donations so I have a lot of leeway for errors and learnings. I enjoy trying new decorative butt wraps for each but the issue I have is the tiedown wraps for the butt wrap. I’ve been trying to incorporate a hook keeper in my tiedown wrap but ultimately the tiedown wrap becomes too long for my liking. So for my next build I plan install the foregrip after I install the decorative butt wrap, hiding the tiedown beneath the foregrip, and then doing the hook keeper wrap separately above the grip. I’ve thought this through and I don’t think I’m breaking any new ground here in the rod building technology. Surely this is done quite often. So what say ye wise men. Any thoughts?

Any feedback is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Hello Larry.

Foam, Cork, Wood or What?
How Thick is your Tie-Off going to be?
Is your Grip going to be as short (or long) as the Tie-Off?
Is there any space between Tie-Off and Seat?
Are you going to Shim from seat to Tie-Off?

Well these are some questions, and there are more!


Tight Wraps & Tighter Lines.

Bob,

New Bern, NC.

use a drop shot hook keeper

The best day to be alive is always tomorrow !!
Think out side the box when all else fails !!!
Wi.

Larry,
Just as a point in passing.
I personally do not want a hook keeper any closer than 1 - 2 incches from the fore grip or the spot where your hand ends when holding the rod, if you don't have a fore grip on the rod.

I don't want to be able to ever have contact with the hook keeper with my hand, no matter what I am doing when I am actually fishing.

Good luck

I don't do hook keepers very often, I am like Roger but more extreme; no hook keeper. Fuji makes a little plastic hook keeper that you can take on and off and move around easy that I like and is under $4.00. The stripper guide makes a good hook keeper too.

I've noticed in a lot of decorative wrap work many of those guys don't use hook keepers at all. I don't know if it is because it prevents them from having a minimal tie-off like you want, or if they believe it detracts from the look of the wrap, or because they don't want hooks scuffing up their finish at the wrap. I have them in mine, but my tie offs were already long because I am still learning. To put the foregrip on after the wrap is done, you will need to bore it out wider than what it needs at its final location - in order to slide it down past the wrap. So you would need to arbor the foregrip, probably with tape. Then, you will need to make sure you can hide the I.D. gap at the tip-end of the foregrip. A winding check will be difficult, or impossible, to get past the dec wrap since it is a fixed I.D., a rubber one can stretch but that requires force that could goof up your wrap assuming you haven't applied finish to it yet (since you are adding the winding check last). A ramp of thread/finish might work to cover it up.

My opinion is that you can mount the foregrip like normal (before the wrap) use a short tie off wrap at the foregrip like you want, and still have room to wrap the hook keeper on top of that (kind of using the tie-off as an "underwrap"). You can make your keeper wraps pretty minimal since it isn't going to be bearing any real strain. The drop shot keeper mentioned above is a great idea too since it is only one foot.

Gents, thanks for the feedback and the hook keeper suggestions. But old habits die hard and this one will as well since there is a new wrinkle involved and a "what the heck-why not" risk involved. My thoughts are along the lines of what Jason is suggesting. Foregrip will be 2" EVA. Ream the foregrip as needed for passage over the dec wrap and arbor the area for snug fit for the foregrip at its final location. Size/install the winding check after the grip is glued down. Then I'll either put down a short under wrap where the hook keeper will be landed just above the foregrip or just wrap both ends of it, which ever looks best, over dec wrap. My biggest concern is messing up the dec wrap as a slide down the grip. Seems to me I'm forgetting something.

Questions, comments, concerns?

Larry, I am sorry but I am thinking you will not be able to get a winding check down past the dec wrap. I could be wrong about that; but a thread wrap right up against the foregrip with an epoxy finish ramp might be enough to cover up the gap so that you don't need a winding check. Maybe others have different tricks. And also I was suggesting that the dec wrap tie-off function also as an underwrap for the hook keeper. Just put the keeper right on the tie off and wrap it on with another layer of thread. I am just a beginner and don't want to lead you astray, but I just feel that you are making this over-complicated. That said, if you are willing to give it a try then go for it and learn from it!

Hello,

Have you looked into using a small fly-rod guide as the hookeeper, similar to the ones made by Recoil? Going with the single-foot version would certainly allow you to shorten up the wrap.

Is there a chance you could simply locate your wrap a bit further up, extend the bottom tie-off, then ream the grip to just under the diameter of the wrap itself? i.e. let the wrap be your arbor and install the grip over that. Of course the dec-wrap would have to be completely finished in order to facilitate reaming, then gluing/sliding on the foregrip.

A slow-cure paste epoxy would allow for easy clean up--should you choose to go that route.

chad



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/02/2018 06:54PM by Chad Barlongo.